Lorenz Larkin
Lorenz Larkin (born September 3, 1986) is an American Mixed martial arts fighter. Larkin currently competes at Middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Larkin formerly fought in Strikeforce and holds notable wins over Gian Villante, Robbie Lawler and Chris Camozzi. Early life Larkin grew up as one of nine siblings in Riverside, California. His parents frowned upon contact sports for fear of the damage they might inflict upon his son. Despite his parental objections, Larkin took up American football initially, but gave it up soon afterwards because he "sucked at it". Afterwards, he began boxing but was not able to compete as much as he would like to, due to his parents. He also felt that he was too short to be a professional boxer in the Heavyweight division, so he took up kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which led him to mixed martial arts. Mixed Martial Arts Early career Lorenz Larkin began his MMA career on a high note, going 9-0 in his first 9 bouts. 7 of those victories were by KO/TKO. Strikeforce Larkin made his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce Challengers: Wilcox vs. Damm on April 1, 2011, against Scott Lighty, replacing Japanese Judoka Satoshi Ishii on a weeks notice. Larkin got a second round TKO stoppage and moved to 10-0 in his Mixed martial arts career. Larkin returned to the promotion on June 24, 2011 at Strikeforce Challengers: Fodor vs. Terry. He faced Gian Villante and won the fight via unanimous decision. Villante controlled the first round from top position but Larkin turned it around in the second round by keeping the fight on the feet and landing many strong kicks to the legs of his opponent. Larkin kept this up in the third round while also scoring an unexpected takedown in the last ten seconds.http://www.sherdog.com/events/Strikeforce-Challengers-16-17007 Larkin was originally scheduled to headline the next challengers event against Virgil Zwicker but Zwicker pulled out due to an injury. Larkin instead faced Nick Rossborough and won the fight via unanimous decision. Larkin then faced Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine on January 7, 2012 in his toughest test to date. He lost the fight via knockout due to ground-and-pound in round 2. However, the bout was overturned to a no contest after Lawal tested positive for steroids (Drostanolone). For his next fight, Larkin dropped down to the Middleweight division. He faced heavy handed Robbie Lawler on July 14, 2012 at Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Kennedy. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Larkin was to challenge Luke Rockhold for the championship on November 3, 2012 at Strikeforce: Cormier vs. Mir. The event was to be held at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but was cancelled in October 2012. The fight was rescheduled and set to take place on January 12, 2013. However, Rockhold once again pulled out of the fight due to injury. Larkin was then scheduled to face Ronaldo Souza, but the fight never materialized. Ultimate Fighting Championship In January 2013, the Strikeforce organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa. A list of fighters scheduled to be brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was released in mid-January and Larkin was one of the fighters listed. On February 9, 2013, the UFC announced that Larkin would make his debut against Francis Carmont at UFC on Fox 7 in San Jose, California. He lost the fight due to a controversial unanimous decision with many major MMA media scoring the fight as a win for Larkin. In his second UFC appearance, Larkin earned a unanimous decision over TUF 11 contestant, Chris Camozzi on November 6, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 31. At UFC Fight Night 35, Larkin lost a unanimous decision to Brad Tavares on January 15, 2014 in Duluth, Georgia. Larkin is now expected to fight Costas Philippou at UFC Fight Night 40 in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 10, 2014. Mixed Martial Arts record References External links * *UFC Profile Category:American mixed martial artists Category:African American sportspeople Category:American Muay Thai practitioners Category:Living people Category:1986 births Category:Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Category:Middleweight mixed martial artists Category:Mixed martial artists from California